Sunday, November 11, 2018

Russia’s cutting-edge Sukhoi Su-57 fifth-generation fighter jet incorporates the functions of the US F-22 and F-35 fighter planes but outperforms them, Chief Designer - Director of the Sukhoi Design Bureau Mikhail Strelets said in a live broadcast of the Zvezda TV Channel on Friday.

The fighter jet is capable of effectively accomplishing missions to destroy both air and ground targets as compared to the US aircraft that are focused only on specific tasks, the Sukhoi chief designer said.

"The F-22 was initially developed as an aircraft to gain air superiority. But eventually the Americans realized that it was essentially wrong to design the aircraft only for carrying air-to-air missiles and made an attempt to fit air-to-surface weapons into the existing configuration of its compartments. But the configuration of the compartments did not allow placing larger cargoes," Strelets said.

The designers of the Su-57 (PAK FA, the Prospective Airborne Complex of Frontline Aviation) faced the task of developing a multi-functional aircraft, he said.

"Regarding the load the plane can carry to its weight, the greater this ratio, the higher the plane’s quality from the viewpoint of the carrier. The same relates to the volume and the weight of the arsenal of weapons placed in its internal holds. And it can be said that by this indicator the Su-57 has no rivals among fifth-generation planes," Strelets stressed, noting that the PAK FA was also unrivaled by its acceleration capabilities.

"It so turned out and we didn’t choose this specially but if you sum up 22 and 35, you get the figure 57," the Sukhoi chief designer said.